Mental health support worker

If you are Kind, Fair, Ingenious and Determined then we want you to come and join our #PennineCarePeople

https://www.penninecare.nhs.uk/values

Job overview

Main Duties and Responsibilities

• To assist qualified practitioners in assessments for new patients. Second person on high risk visits and 72 hour follow ups. To assist in first assessments through the night on the hospital site.
• On the night shift (up until 10pm), you will be asked to visit patients who require you to be a witness to them taking their prescribed medication and ensuring compliance.
• To support service users in engaging positively and actively with appropriate services and resources such as benefits, employment, housing and substance misuse services.
• Promote independent living of service user through help, advice, practical and emotional support.
• Provide information and support with health promotion.
• Support the practitioners in monitoring the service user’s physical health and mental state, level of functioning and progress.

Main duties of the job

Main Duties and Responsibilities

• To assist qualified practitioners in assessments for new patients. Second person on high risk visits and 72 hour follow ups. To assist in first assessments through the night on the hospital site.
• On the night shift (up until 10pm), you will be asked to visit patients who require you to be a witness to them taking their prescribed medication and ensuring compliance.
• To support service users in engaging positively and actively with appropriate services and resources such as benefits, employment, housing and substance misuse services.
• Promote independent living of service user through help, advice, practical and emotional support.
• Provide information and support with health promotion.
• Support the practitioners in monitoring the service user’s physical health and mental state, level of functioning and progress.

Working for our organisation

We are proud to provide high quality mental health and learning disability services, both inpatient and in the community across five boroughs of Greater Manchester - Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport and Tameside and Glossop.

Our vision is for a happier and more hopeful life for everyone in our communities and our staff work hard to deliver the very best care for the people who use our services. We’re really proud of our #PennineCarePeople and do everything we can to make sure we’re a great place to work.

All individuals regardless of race, age, disability, ethnicity, nationality, gender, gender reassignment, sexual orientation, religion or belief, marriage and civil partnership are encouraged to apply for this post. We would also encourage applications from individuals with a lived experience of mental illness, either individually or as a carer.

If you come and work for us we will offer a range of benefits and opportunities, including:

• Generous annual leave entitlement for Agenda for Change and Medical and Dental staff.
• Flexible working opportunities to support your work/life balance
• Access to Continued Professional Development
• Involvement in improvement and research activities
• Health and Wellbeing activities and access to an excellent staff wellbeing service
• Access to staff discounts across retail, leisure and travel

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Main Duties and Responsibilities

• To assist qualified practitioners in assessments for new patients. Second person on high risk visits and 72 hour follow ups. To assist in first assessments through the night on the hospital site.
• On the night shift (up until 10pm), you will be asked to visit patients who require you to be a witness to them taking their prescribed medication and ensuring compliance.
• To support service users in engaging positively and actively with appropriate services and resources such as benefits, employment, housing and substance misuse services.
• Promote independent living of service user through help, advice, practical and emotional support.
• Provide information and support with health promotion.
• Support the practitioners in monitoring the service user’s physical health and mental state, level of functioning and progress.

Person specification

Education and qualifications

• NVQ 3 Health and social care
• Good standard of education
• Commitment to undertake Continuing Personal Development

• Evidence of recent and/or further training

Experience

• Experience of undertaking a supportive role
• Experience of working with people with mental health needs
• Experience working with people in distress
• Experience of dealing with and managing risk.

• Experience of lone working
• Working with and coordinating activities for service users

Knowledge

• Understanding mental health issues and how they can impact on individuals
• Understanding of confidentiality and data protection issues.
• Knowledge of physical health observations.
• Knowledge of diversity and anti-discriminatory practice/equal opportunities

• Awareness of local services.
• Knowledge of benefits / employment systems.
• An understanding of the mental health system.
• Ability to work sensitively with people in a mental health crisis

Skills and abilities

• To be able to listen effectively and have good written and verbal communication skills.
• Ability to implement care plans for individuals with the support of others as appropriate.
• Ability to work unsupervised in a range of settings.
• Ability to form positive therapeutic relationships with service users and carers.
• Willingness to make a positive contribution to improving the quality of life for people with mental health problems.
• Ability to acknowledge diversity and promote anti- discriminatory practice / equal opportunities.
• Ability to provide practical support with daily living activities.
• An ability to act calmly in emergencies and to respond in a professional manner to stressful and challenging behaviour.
• Basic IT Skills
• Ability to work flexibly and to prioritise workload
• Ability to work as part of a team

• Willingness to engage with or have undertaken Venepuncture and physical health checks training.

Work related circumstances

• Use of a car or access to a means of mobility to travel across the Trust footprint.
• Willing to carry out all duties and responsibilities of the post in accordance with the Trust’s Equal Opportunities and Equality and Diversity policies
• Able to pass Occupational Health Screening process

Hints and tips for completing your application can be found here.

Sponsorship - We are an approved sponsoring organisation. Applications will be considered from applicants requiring sponsorship alongside all other applications. Please be aware, not all roles are eligible for sponsorship. You can review the list of eligible role and requirements on the government website.

What happens after your application has been received?

You will be informed about the progress of your application following shortlisting via email. Only applicants who clearly demonstrate the criteria listed in the person specification will be shortlisted for interview. Interview invites will be sent out via email.

What happens if I am offered the position after interview?

The hiring manager will make contact with you to verbally offer you the position. The hiring manager will then inform Recruitment of the decision and provide relevant paperwork. You will be sent a formal conditional offer via email.

What pre-employment checks will I need to complete?

By conducting pre-employment checks, the recruitment team will verify that you meet the pre-conditions of the role you have been offered. Pre-employment checks will be carried out according to NHS Employment Check Standards. The checks are:

• Identity verification
• Right to work check
• Disclosure and barring service (DBS)/Criminal record check (dependent on role)
• Professional registration and/or qualification check
• Occupational health assessment
• Employment history and reference validation

All applicants external to NHS will be required to provide HMRC employment history to cover the most recent three years. This information will used to validate employment history and references as part of pre-employment checks.

If you are offer a position with is and you require sponsorship to support your right to work, we will review your eligibility in line with government guidance. If the role you have been offer is not eligible for sponsorship, and you are not able to evidence your right to work, your conditional offer could be withdrawn.

What happens when pre-employment checks are complete?

Recruitment will liaise with you and the hiring manager to arrange a start date for your new position. You will then be booked on to a Trust Welcome Session and be sent your Pennine Care NHS Terms and Conditions.

• We are committed to equality, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) and recognise the importance of ensuring our diverse service user population is reflected within our workforce. Unfortunately, we know that, at present, there is underrepresentation of our communities in our workforce. We welcome applications from people from diverse communities to help us grow, learn, be better and consider brilliant innovation diverse people bring.
• If you would like to be considered under the disability confident scheme, you will be guaranteed an interview if you meet the essential criteria on the person specification for the post.
• If you require reasonable adjustments to our recruitment process please phone us on 0161 716 3181 at the earliest opportunity. We will support you to complete your application.
• Unfortunately we are not able to guarantee the transfer of lease cars, or cover the costs of early termination charges.
• We have a strict policy on unsolicited contact from recruitment agencies. Please do not contact our hiring managers directly.

We reserve the right to close a vacancy earlier than the advertised closing date if a sufficient number of applications have been received. To ensure you application is considered, please submit at the earliest opportunity.